McDonald - The McDonald Blue Devils had an unlikely hero Friday night in their 10-7 victory over the Columbiana Clippers. Usually a skill player makes a big play to provide the winning margin, but on this night it was the coaches son Carson, a defensive linemen.

With 5:47 remaining in the third quarter and the Devils leading by only a slim 3-0 count, Williams, a junior defensive linemen tipped and then caught an interception at the Clippers 5-yard line and rumbled into the end zone.

"I saw him rolling out and I tipped it, and then it was just there so I grabbed it," Williams explained. "I never scored a touchdown in my life."

"We worked really hard on defense this week. It was our main focus because they (Columbiana) do all that shifting, so we had to adjust to everything that they were doing," Williams added.

"He talked about that all week at home," Devils Head Coach Dan Williams said laughing. "I'm going to score this year dad, I'm going to score. It's good to see that, it's always fun when your kid makes a big play for you, and it ended up being the game winner. So it's exciting for the family."

In the first half, both the Clippers and Devils made scoring threats, but the Clippers would fumble the ball at the Devils 12-yard line in the first quarter, and the Devils would turn the ball over on downs at the Clippers 9-yard line in the second stanza.

However, as a result of the Devils deep drive, the Clippers were unable to move the ball out from deep in their own territory. A short punt would then give the Devils excellent field position.

With the ball at the Clippers 39-yard line, and only 1:21 left in the second quarter, the Devils senior quarterback Christian Rusinowski dropped back to pass. With his receivers covered he tucked the ball in and ran to right for a 33-yard gain.

Two plays later he was sacked at the 10-yard line with the clock running and no time-outs available. The kicking team ran onto the field as Rusinowski quickly put on his kicking shoe, and as time expired he booted through a 17-yard field goal to give the Devils a 3-0 lead at halftime.

"He stepped up big tonight," Coach Williams remarked about Rusinowski. "I'm real proud of the way he responded tonight. He played his heart out on senior night, and that's what you expect of a senior."

Following the Carson Williams interception touchdown, the Clippers responded with their best drive of the evening. They would travel 60-yards on 7-plays, ending with a 21-yard scamper by halfback Britton Steiginga with 2:37 remaining in the third quarter.

But following that drive the Clippers self-destructed the rest of the contest as they commited three fumbles and one costly holding penalty in the final quarter of play.

The loss by the Clippers allowed the Western Reserve Blue Devils to capture the ITCL Lower Tier title. The Clippers will host Western Reserve next week.

McDonald improves to 5-4 on the season, and will travel to Sebring next Friday. McDonald is still mathmatically alive for the playoffs, but will need a lot of help to qualify.

McDonald is now mathematically eliminated. But what a great win for the Devils! If they could have just pulled that one out against WR they would be in the playoffs but this team has made big strides forward. Should get the win next week and get a solid, winning record of 6-4. The next 3 years though look bright as ever for McDonald! Only losing 4 seniors, and with soo much talent returning. Ifft, Reckard, Walters, Conley all should be big playmakers next year. All are soph and reckard is a freshman! 2014 is a year Devil fans should be looking to, that team will be LOADED. Next year got to get back to the playoffs